1. Assesment speaking and listening: Assesment in early childhood settings is noticing and recording rather than testing. Formative Assessment: Continuous observation is key. Educators look for a child's ability to follow multi-step instructions, use varied sentence structures, and engage in social conversation. Tools for Assessment: Anecdotal Records: Short, objective notes about a specific language interaction. Checklists: Monitoring the emergence of specific milestones (e.g., "Uses past tense correctly"). Checklists • Rating scales (e.g. out of 5) • Rubrics • Pedagogical documentation • Portfolios (still used in some schools)
2. Importance of oral language development It is a key mode of communication in society; a part of people's social worlds It is important to children’s social and emotional development It is foundational reading and writing competency It is important to learning in general [Thinking occurs in oral language (or images) ]
2.1. Principles for effective oral language teaching and learning 1. Children need to experience both oral and written language in an integrated way 2. Differences in language and dialect need to be respected and supported • Encourage use of home language • Group children with the same home language • Use multi-modal communication to support comprehension and 2nd (or other) language acquisition • Use modelling and demonstration to created a shared reference point • Small groups are less intimidating • Expect a silent period 3. Children are responsive to language input 4. Oral language experiences need to be appropriate (development, interests, context) 5. Scaffold for comprehension – check for understanding 6. Learning language requires authentic engagement and trust.
3. THINKING (dispositions)can be: curious precise (facts) open minded to be organsied to be reflective to be empathatic we need to support children to be able to do all of these.
3.1. Educator role to enhance these: hold high expectations use academic languge provide opportunites for deep thinking provide experiences for all of the dispositions, capatalise on all teachable moments. questioning (vary them) open questions as well as closed. the environment (3rd teacher) to support children to think about new ideas in their world. value metacogntion (thinking about thinking) talking through what we are doing, talking about what you are thinknig engage in purposeful engaging conversations and increase sophisticated vocabulary support their interests and enhance them extend conversations expand the knowledge and vocabulary cognitive challenging based on what they already know conversations, draw from their interests and knowledge
4. Communication Loop - Recieve and process information cognitive thinking. cogntion (thinking) requires attention, perception, memory, reasoning, problem solving and decsion making. recieving information sorting it out to understand and then integrate or accomodate the new information to create new knowledge.
5. Benefits of talk for thinking and learning: deeper understanding of ideas and concepts stimulates new thought influences approach to thinking helps to derive meaning from experiences shared experiences supports what we are learning and thinking stimulate new thoughts using our rich envirmonet enhances their cognitive processing how we communicate ideas with one and other helps them to form abstract ideas and concepts supports the development of schemata
6. Joan Tough's (1976, 1979) seven language functions:
6.1. Self Maintaining: Children use language to satisfy physical and psychological needs.
6.2. Directing: Using language to control themselves or others. Directing actions or monitoring their own (dont do that! go away! I am coming).
6.3. Reporting (on past and present): using langugae to share experiences, they might label, describe details or refer to a sequence of events.
6.4. Logical Reasoning: children use language to explain a process, recognise cause and effect relationships, recognise problems and solutions and reflect and draw conclusions on an event.
6.5. Predicting: Children use language to predict and anticipate events, possible sequence of events anticipate possible problems and predict the consequence of actions or events.
6.6. Projecting: this involves empathy and imagination. It requires the child to step outside their own immediate experience, taking someone else's point of view, imagining how others feel, or projecting into someone else's situation. "He's crying because he's sad," or "If I were a bird, I would fly away."
6.7. Imagining: considered the most advanced function, this involves creating entirely new worlds or scenarios. Role-playing, storytelling, and creating imaginary situations that have no basis in the child's real-life experience. "Let's pretend we are on a spaceship to Mars."
7. Early Childhood settings
7.1. Childcare environment
7.1.1. Outdoor environment
7.1.2. indoor environment
7.1.3. The components of Oral language: The phonological component: the sound patterns of language. The syntactic component: the system of structuring sentances The semantic component: the meaning of words and sentantces. The Pragmatic component: the use of language to communicate in different situations. Morphology: use of tense and plurals (over generalsations)
7.1.4. Trasnstions
7.1.5. Daily Routines
7.1.6. Each of the following is supported by strong evidence that they support the development of language and later literacy skills. They are all part of the daily practice of excellent Childcare educators. Parentese/ engaging with babies Evidence-based practice – children talk sooner, with a wider vocabulary and have stronger auditory discrimination for phonological development. Critical to cognitive and social development. 1. Slow your speech 2. Speak in a higher pitch 3. Use conventional syntax 4. Exaggerate modulation of voice 5. Pause for response Sustained shared conversations: 1. Open ended discussion (questions, agreement, restating the child’s observations to clarify) 2. Intentionally extend the conversation (prompting: questioning, agreement, restating the child’s observations to clarify, offering own ideas and knowledge to enrich) 3. Child-directed conversations – they lead, you follow! 4. Listen, listen, listen (listening is a verb – a ‘doing’ thing) 5. Shared reference point Dialogic book talk: In dialogic reading, the goal is to shift the child from a passive listener to an active storyteller. For children aged 2 to 5, this is achieved through a "conversation" about the book rather than just a one-way reading. According to Fellowes and Oakley (2020), this interaction builds the neural pathways required for vocabulary acquisition and comprehension.
7.1.7. Linguistic needs: Extended Conversations: Educators should move beyond "management talk" (e.g., "Wash your hands") to "sustained shared thinking," where they follow a child's lead in complex play to expand their vocabulary. The Physical Environment: The preschool layout should include "literacy-rich" pockets, such as a dramatic play area with menus and signs, or a quiet book nook that encourages independent exploration.
7.2. Assesment of language: SPEECH Articulation (e.g. lisps, coordination of tongue, teeth, lips, approximations and substitutions e.g. ff for th) Fluency (e.g. stuttering and hitting ‘bumps’) Pitch and volume (voice production) Prosody and intonation (expression and pronunciation)
7.2.1. Assessment of oral language: FIVE COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE • Syntax: Comprehensible phrases and sentences? • Morphology: Use of tense and plurals? (over-generalisations?) • Phonology: Phonological awareness and auditory discrimination (we’ll come back to this one) • Semantics: Breadth of vocabulary/ rate of vocabulary acquisition • Pragmatics: Use of language for social interaction/ meeting needs (e.g. turn taking, gaining and maintaining attention of others, attentiveness in listening, appropriateness of responses)ff
7.2.1.1. Collecting data about oral language • Communication with families • Observation • Conversations • Story retell • Dialogic drawing/ drawn narratives • Audio/video recordings
7.2.1.1.1. Language & Social Emotional Competence: Language is a critical tool for helping children understand and manage their emotions and behavior. When children lack the words to express how they feel, it can lead to emotional dysregulation and behavioral challenges, as they may "act out" what they cannot say. Evidence shows that the quantity and quality of conversations a child experiences directly impacts their psychological growth. Strong links exist between early language impairments and difficulties with self-control. According to Fellowes and Oakley (2020), supporting a child's semantics (meaning) and pragmatics (social rules) gives them the "internal toolkit" needed to navigate social situations and regulate their responses.
7.3. Assesment of speaking and listening: to enhance childs language development observations conversations samples of childrens work using the story re tell ( can you re tell the story for me (age approrpriote) childrens self evaluation (ask children to reflect on their own learning. anecdotal notes audio or video recordings and images learning outcome five: children are effective communcators effective communication with families.
7.4. Home Environment establish supportive language environments, for many the language used at home differs to childcare settings.
7.5. Teacher directed strategies for oral language development • Roll call • Singing and finger rhymes • Story reading • Language games (phonological awareness) • Introducing new content, concepts or inquiries • Discussions • Picture talks (and critical literacy) • Information texts • Role-play • News telling • Reinforcing new content/ concepts • Reporting on inquiries/ discoveries/ new learning promote literacy in play (intentional, through planning)
7.5.1. Planning for oral language development: your role: Teacher directed strategies Teacher engagement Assessment and response Orchestration of play Create child directed learning environment (embedded with language and literacy). Socio-dramatic play Learning centres Literacy specific learning centres Environmental print (mud kitchen, buidling site etc) that holds meaning for the children and relates to the play situation. use literacy props, use luteracy in their play.
7.5.1.1. Teacher engagement Promote literacy in play (intentional –evidenced in you planning) Build background knowledge and rich vocabulary through contextualised talk (semantics) Show explicitly how to use literacy materials, experience success and have fun with literacy. Add literacy props and materials to value and bring sophistication to children’s play Join in with play: Interact with the children Model use of literacy props and oral and written language Make suggestions, extend, question
7.5.1.2. Children use and develop a wide range of communication / language functions during play: • To negotiate an activity or task • To act out roles • To solve problems • To express emotions • To carry out conversations • to direct others • To ask questions • to tell about what they are doing or what they did • To explain • To initiate and respond to the ideas of others • To define what they are doing • To ask and answer questions • To share information • To take turns (and other social language norms) • Associated literacy activities • Literacy props and materials in play settings: use literacy in play (SOCIAL, ACADEMIC AND LITERACY).
7.5.1.2.1. Orchestrating language learning opportunities As children transition into the more formal context of the school environment, their language learning needs to prepare them to move from learning language to using language to learn. To equip children for this, educators in 2-5 settings provide opportunities to build the following three domains of competency: Language for social interaction. This is the language used to communicate effectively in different social situations within the classroom. Language for learning literacy and about literature. This is the language children need for literacy learning: narrative language, phonological awareness, meta-language (the language for talking about language) Language for thinking (vocabulary, structures and forms) used in learning situations within the classroom: talking about ideas, explaining, reporting, questioning, etc. Educators must 'orchestrate the leaning environment. orchestrating experiences through the day to sustain a harmoneous flow, keeping flow with the children. Indeed, in Reggio Emilia, the environment is considered the 3rd teacher.
7.5.1.2.2. Socio Dramatic Play and Oral language: • Opportunity to use functional language in context (Pragmatics) • Low stakes opportunity to ‘try on’ functional language and practice speech skills (e.g. prosody, pronunciation, fluency etc.) • Use new vocabulary in context (semantics) • Expand vocabulary through interactions with others • Opportunities to engage in serve and return exchanges to refine language syntax and morphology. • Embedding literacy • a range of different forms of print relevant to the setting • Advertisements • Signs • Job descriptions • iPad, symbols, visual cues • Note pad, clip boards, raffle tickets, forms, • Pencils, pens, blackboards, menus, cards, • Familiar real world texts, reminder notes, directions, maps. • Known and home literacy resources
8. Cognition and Language Piaget and vygotsky differ primarily on the origin of cognitive development: Piaget viewed it as an independent, stagewise process of individual discovery, while Vygotsky emphasized social interaction and cultural tools. Piaget believed thought precedes language, whereas Vygotsky argued that language is internalized to form thought
9. Language and Play: Play vs Intentional Teaching: Based on Edwards (2017), the relationship between play-based learning and intentional teaching is not a contradiction but a sophisticated balance required to support language development in children aged 2 to 5. Edwards argues that while play provides the "context" for language, intentional teaching provides the "content" and "extension" needed for academic success.
9.1. Play: For 2 to 5-year-olds, play is the primary vehicle for practicing pragmatics (social rules) and semantics (meaning). Edwards highlights that in open-ended play: Children use metacommunicative language to negotiate roles (e.g., "I’ll be the doctor, and you be the patient"). They experiment with Halliday’s functional uses of language, specifically the imaginative and interactional functions. The educator's role here is to "actively listen" and observe the child's current schemata.
9.2. Intentional Teaching: Edwards suggests that "pure" play is sometimes insufficient for complex language acquisition. Intentional teaching involves the educator joining the play with a specific linguistic goal: Scaffolding: Using the PEER sequence or CROWD prompts during a shared activity to introduce "rare words" (sophisticated vocabulary) that children wouldn't encounter in everyday peer-to-peer play. Sustained Shared Thinking: Engaging in a "meeting of minds" where the educator asks open-ended questions that provoke heuristic language (investigating "why" or "how").
10. BLANKS LEVEL OF TALK LEVEL 1 directly supplied information (what colour is the box?) LEVEL 2 Classification (what do they have in common?) LEVEL 3 Reorganisation (tell me about the objects?) LEVEL 4 Abstaction and interference ( what would happen if we put another rock in the box?)
11. Learning to talk and Talking to learn Social Language to get along
11.1. Academic Language- to understand in school context
11.1.1. Language for Literacy specifically for literacy
11.1.1.1. What is the purpose of the book?communicative purpose, children need to be able to comprehend the language, is the language authentic for the purpose?is there learning beyond the text?how does it apply to real life. Children need to be able to make meaning. as an educator you might need to paraphrase the text (younger readers make it apporopriote) does the text offer problem solving, imagine, build suspense. consider other childrens langauge and culture, multi culture literature helps children with their sense of belonging and will support their identity.
11.1.1.2. Interpretive response relate text to another text analytical -understand the text response that understands Personal response link story to themself connect to own life extend into their own new experiences Aesthetic response appreciating the aestecs of the book through the text colours holes in books for fingers etc. the storyt becomes a platform for their own creativity as they create a painting or art from the story.